Tiger Woods was unable to take advantage of the easier North Course at Torrey Pines on Friday, leaving his tilt at a possible eighth Farmers Insurance Open title on life support.
Woods pieced together a relatively tame 2-under 70 to move to 4 under for the tournament, much closer to the cut line than the leaders.
FedExCup champion Justin Rose holds a commanding three-shot lead and sits 11 shots clear of Woods at 15 under.
For Woods it was a frustrating day on the greens as countless chances burned edges or lipped out.
‘Tee to green was okay. I made a few mistakes here and there. I just couldn’t get a putt to fall,’ Woods said.
‘A lot of lip‑outs today and a round that could have easily been 5-, 6-under par just didn’t materialise.
‘I’m hitting good putts … so if I just continue hitting good putts, eventually they’ll go in in boatloads. Just right now they’re just not going in.’
Despite making two birdies in his first eight holes, Woods was in danger of leaving San Diego early after an ugly double bogey on the 18th hole, his ninth of the day.
After hitting a great drive into the fairway his 8-iron approach tugged left and found a horrific plugged lie near the lip of a bunker.
After barely muscling the ball out of the sand, his chip ran 10 feet past the hole and he missed the putt to fall to the cut line.
But Woods has only missed the weekend at Torrey Pines once before, and the two-time FedExCup champion had no intention of adding to that.
Especially with the knowledge that the South Course notoriously gets tougher on weekends, allowing for big moves up the leaderboard with great play.
Woods rolled in a nice birdie putt on the third hole, his 12th, before chipping in expertly on the following hole for another birdie to erase the earlier double.
With scoring holes to come, the huge galleries willed the 80-time TOUR winner to mount a late charge, but he was unable to muster anything.
‘I still had two par fives left ahead of me and a drivable seventh hole, so I was just trying to claw my way back into it,’ Woods said.
‘I figured if I could make birdies on those holes, I get right back in this thing. I didn’t do that, and hence I’m pretty far back.
‘I’m going to have to play a very special weekend to have a chance.’
Credit: PGA TOUR
